Libya operation: Obama’s defence angers Congress

On Capitol Hill, legislators who disagree with President Barack Obama’s legal defence of the military operation in Libya will have two options when they resume session this week.

They could try to cut off funding for the campaign, or could formally register their disapproval that Obama did it without congressional say-so. The first tactic has rarely worked in the US history. And the second hasn’t worked on Obama so far.

Unhappiness in Congress was magnified by a report that Obama ignored some of his legal counselors when he decided that the Libya campaign should not be counted as “hostilities”.

On Saturday, sources said Obama had not overruled a formal opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, because there wasn’t one. Instead, the sources said, advisers presented him with their opinions and he chose one that the White House counsel and the State Department favoured.